Advisory Tutorials

This has been a challenging season in many regards. Unfortunately, Taos Avalanche Center is shutting down. Thanks to all those that have supported and believed in providing avalanche education and awareness. Stay safe out in the mountains and if you ever want to talk about conditions feel free to contact me at andy@taosavalanchecenter.org or call me at 781-572-5631.

Headed up the Williams Lake Trail to get access to North aspects above 11,000' . Believe it or not we still do have snow in mountains. Any continuous snow is still confined to North aspects mostly above 11,000'. Near treeline snowdepths vary from 2 to 16" of mostly cohession-less facets. Other aspects are back to bare ground with two weeks of high pressure really doing a number on our snow. Above treeline, we have snow from earlier storms that vary in depth greatly due to previous wind events. Overall, the snowpack is thin, variable and weak with previous slabs deteriorating into facets. In crossloaded gullies we were able to find a supportable slab on top of facets. With a potential storm approaching Tuesday Night into Wednesday, it'll be important to pay attention to where there snow is currently as these slopes will present the most problems going forward.

Photo 1: A snowpit from a cross loaded gully on a N aspect. Varying depth, with the left side not supportable and the right side deeper able to support body weight